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1 



AMERICAN EDITION. 

PRICE 25 CTS. 

(Tbe Profits of tbis "Work, botb in Engrland and iUuerica, will be 
applied in aid of tbe London Printers' Pension Society.) 



A LECTURE 

ON THE 

LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN, 

THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE, A.M. 

AS DELIVERED BV HIM 

AX THE LIVERPOOL ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE, 

ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, 17th NOV. 1841. 



CONTAINING ALSO A PKEFATORY 

NOTE TO THE READER, 

By JOHN B. MURRAY, Esq. op New York. 



'^j W!TH A FAC-SIMILE OF 

DR. FRANKLIN'S LETTER TO THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, 

from the Oriyinal Manuscript, in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Raffles. 



ALSO ILLUSTKATED WITH 

AN ENGRAVING OE THE PRESS AT WHICH FRANKLIN WORKED, 

WHEN A JOURNEYMAN IN LONDON, 

PRINTED, ON A DETACHED PAGE, AT THAT IDENTICAL PRESS, 

PUBLISHED BY 

HENDERSON GREENE, NEW YORK ; CAREY AND HART, 

PHILADELPHIA; JAS. MUNROE & CO., BOSTON; 

ALSO BY 

W. E. PAINTER, 342, STRAND, LONDON. 



1841. 



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[ Tilt: PROFITS Oh' THIS WORK, BOTH 7.V ENGLAND AND AMERICA, WILL BE APPLIED 
IN AID OF THE LONDON PRINTERS' PENSION SOCIETy.-) 



A LECTURE 



LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN. 



THE REV. HUGH''m'NEILE, A.M. 

n 



AS DELIVERED BY HIM AT THE LIVERPOOL ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE, 
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, 17th NOV. 1841, 

WITH THE ADDITION OF A PREFATORY 

NOTE TO THE READER, 

JOHN B. MURRAY, ESQ. 

OP NEW YORK. 



PUBLISHED BY 

HENDERSON GREENE, NEW YORK ; CAREY AND HART, 
PHILADELPHIA; MONRO AND CO., BOSTON; 

ALSO BY 

W. E. I'AINTER, 312, STRAND, LONDON 
1841 . 






MITCHELL, HEATON, & MITCHELL, PRINTERS, DUKE STREET, LIVERPOOL. 



NOTE TO THE HEADER. 



The duty which has devolved upon me, and whicii 1 aiu now about 
to fulfil, is both novel and unexpected ; and although, under other 
circumstances, I would have'declined its execution, I cannot with pro- 
priety do so in this instance. 

Circumstances, wliicli, if not already known to the reader, will appear 
in the perusal of the following pages, have in some degree identified my 
name with this Lecture ; and as it is now going before the public, on 
both sides of the Atlantic, among those to whom I am well known, and 
who may feel interested in the reasons why I am thus identified, I wiil 
briefly relate them. 

In the month of June last, I accidentally learned that the identical 
Printing Press at which Dr. Franklin had worked in London, in 1725-26, 
was still in existence, and in the possession of Messrs. Harrild and Sons, 
a highly respectable firm in that city, upon whom I called on my next 
visit there, in the early part of July. I had no sooner seen it, than I 
felt that an upper room iii a by-lane of London, at some distance from 
a frequented street, was not the place for any relic, however trifling, 
of Benjamin Franklin ; and I immediately proposed to the owners to 
send it to America. 

They replied, that they had had some intention of presenting it to 
the Government of the United States, but were not at present prepared 
to decide upon doing so. They assured me, however, that they would 
not part with it for any other purpose. I left London in a few days ; 
and, after the matter had rested some months, again addressed Messrs. 
Harrild on the subject, inquiring what amount of monied value they 
would set upon the Press ; adding, that they were fully aware of, and 
could appreciate, my anxiety to transfer it from its then obscure position 
in this country, where its illustrious workman is naturally not regarded 
as he is in America, to the scene of his greatest labours, and the land 
hallowed by his associations. 

To this, those gentlemen replied, that they did not wish to take 
advantage of my anxiety for the Press, and would consent to part with 
it, provided I would secure for them in return, a donation to the Printers' 
Pension Society of London, — an institution highly deserving, (its ob- 
ject being the support of aged and decayed printers, and widows of 
printers), and of which they are active members. 



IV 

Of course, I readily acceded to this disinterested and generous pro- 
position ; accepting the Press, without delay, upon those terms, and un- 
dertaking to procure a suitable return of the proposed nature. 

I then addressed a letter to the venerable John Vaughan, the Librarian 
of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, offering to that 
institution this relic of its founder and first president, upon certain con- 
ditions, one of which was that of returning a donation. 

Messrs. Harrild, meanwhile, allowed me, though partially a stranger 
to them, the immediate possession of the Press ; forwarding it hither 
to me in October last : when, in compliance with the request of some 
friends, and to prove my desire to make a proper return to the Printers' 
Pension Fund, I determined to permit the Press to be exhibited here, 
until a reply should be received from Mr. Vaughan. 

It was deposited in the council-chamber of the Liverpool Medical 
Institution, (which had been politely tendered me for the purpose, by 
that Body,) and for about three weeks, during which the Press remained 
thus open to the public, it was visited by numerous parties, both English 
and American. 

A suggestion having been made, by the Reverend Dr. Raffles, that 
it would gTatify the public to see the Press in motion, Messrs. Mitchell, 
Heaton, and Mitchell, printers, of this town, promptly supplied the 
means for making the suggestion available, by gTatuitously undertaking 
arrangements for exhibiting the nature of Franklin's occupation as a 
pressman. Under their superintendence, impressions of a poem by Dr. 
Franklin, entitled " Paper," and also the twelve Rules which he laid 
down for his own government in early life,* were printed, and about 5800 
copies were freely given among the visitors, not, of course, without some 
sacrifice of the printers' time and materiel. In return for these impres- 
sions (which were occasionally printed off at the Press by the visitors 
themselves,) small voluntary contributions to the Printers' Pension Fund 
were received, in a box placed near the Press for that purpose. 

Great interest appeared to be excited by the exhibition of the Press ; 
and it was suggested to me, by a gentleman resident here,t whose 
opinions I have been led, during a brief but intimate acquaintance, to 
respect as highly as I esteem his character and principles, that a Lecture 
on the Life of Dr. Franklin, undertaken by one equal to the task, 
would doubtless further interest the public, and aid the Society for 
whose benefit the Press was being exhibited. 

I made this suggestion known to the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, though, I 
confess, with but a faint expectation of having it entertained. At first, 
various reasons compelled that gentleman to decline it : reasons which 
1 determined to overcome, if possible; in which I eventually succeeded, 

* See Pages 29, 30. t John Moore, Esq., Surgeon. 



on presenting to him a letter seconding- the request, signed by Philip 
Schuyler, Esq., the Consul of the United States, resident here, and by 
several other American gentlemen.* 

Before undertaking this Lecture, however, Mr. M'Neile explained 
to me fully his views respecting Dr. Franklin's character, perDOual, 
political, and religious; assuring me that he should do full justice to 
the first, — passing over the second, as not at all appropriate on such 
an occasion, — but commenting seriously on the third, as a Christian 
minister ought : and inquired if this mode of treating it would be 
agreeable to our views. I replied in the affirmative ; as his Life, by his 
Grandson, is equally candid, excepting that, while it betrays his ances- 
tor's failings, it does not specially comment upon his religious views ; 
and in this decision I was fully borne out by the other parties to the 
letter of request. Upon this, the Rev. Gentleman accepted the task, 
though at the sacrifice of many personal and professional duties ; his 
desire being at once to benefit his hearers, and to aid the Charity 
already named. 

The Lecture was delivered ; and will speak for itself. But I heartily 
wish that these pages could breathe the feeling, impart the manner, 
and lend the tone to the beautiful and impressive language which they 
contain, and which its author so happily blended on the occasion of 
its delivery. 

There are parts of this Lecture which may elicit from certain persons 
some cavil, — perhaps, abuse ; but with the Christian and the philan- 
thropist, all must find a response. 

Ardently must an American seek to repel an aspersion on the cha- 
racter or name of Franklin ; but I would not the less desire to know 
his failings ; since, in my veneration for his example as a man, a 
philosopher, and a moralist, I would not stand committed to his peculiar 
opinions, far less his errors : and with these views I would earnestly 
vindicate the Reverend Lecturer from any apparent desire to detract 
from his fame; icell knoioing, as I do, that that was not his purpose, and 
is not his wish. 

His eloquent appeal to the States of our Union, on the subject of 
Slavery, t is made, as I conceive, in the right spirit; and moreover coin- 
cides with the views of our Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madi- 
son, who assisted in forming the Constitution ; also of Jay, Hamilton, 
Schuyler, Livingston, Henry, and the other worthies of the Revolution 
— men of opposite political opinions, but who agreed on this, then, diffi- 
cult and intricate question. 

The Executive Government of the United States cannot, constitu- 
tionally, interfere in this matter, as it is one which solely affects, and is 
entirely at the disposal of, the States individually interested. — Already, 

* Sceimgell. + Tagc 40. 



VIU 



The following letter from the Honourable Virgil Maxcy, Charge cVaffaivps 
of the United States of America for Belgium, was not received until 
after the delivery of the Lecture. 



Cheltenham, llth November, 1841. 
My Dear Sir, 

I have heard, with great satisfaction, that the Rev. Hugh 
M'Neile, of Liverpool, has consented to deliver a discourse on the Life 
and Character of our illustrious Philosopher, Philanthropist, and Coun- 
tryman, Franklin ; and sincerely regret that indisposition will prevent 
my participation in the high gratification which will he afforded you all 
by the eloqueiwe of that celebrated Divine, on a subject so deeply 
interesting to all Americans. 

Understanding that Mr. M'Neile was induced, by the request of the 
American citizens in Liverpool, to deliver the discourse from which so 
much is anticipated, I consider it particularly unfortimate that I left 
you so soon ; as it will be impossible for me to return to Liverpool before 
my departure for Belgium. To show, however, in the only way in my 
power, my deep interest in the proposed undertaking, and my sense of 
obligation to Mr. M'Neile, I beg you to add my name to the letter of 
request to that gentleman ; and to have the goodness to express to my 
countrymen the sincere regret I feel at not being able to join them 
on the occasion. 

I am, my dear Sir, 

With great esteem, 

Very truly yours, 

V. MAXCY. 

To John B. Murray, Esq., 
&c. &c. 



THIS PAGE, 

COXTAIXIXG A COKKECT VI KAV O'F 

TH E PR ESS 

Wliii;U D;;. FuaXki.kn rcctyiiibeJ as the one ;it Hhiuli lie w n'lieil, ill London, us a 

Jounitymau Pivssinau, iu ilie years IrSi-i), 

WAS PlllNTED OFF AT THAT PKliS-S, 

Kuveiiiber, 1811, 

The Preai bjia^ iatruite I tJ tUe care of Messrs. Mitchell, Heaton, aad Mitchell, Printers, Liverpool, 

by Jolin 3. Murray, Esq., of New York, whose property it is, 

(or the purpose of thus attaching an additional interest to this Edition of the Lecture. 




The following Inscription is engraved npon the plate affixed to 
the front of the Press : — 

" Dr. Fkan kmn's Remarks relative to this Press, made when he came to England 
a.s agent of the Massachusetts, in the year 1708. The Doctor at this time visited 
the Piintiug-office of Mr. Walts, of Wild-street, Liucolu's-Iun-Fields, and, going up 
to this particular Press, (afterwards iu the possession of Messrs. Cox and Son, of 
Great Queen-street, of whom it was purchased,) thus addressed the men who were 
working at it :— ' Come, my friends, we will di-ink togetlier. It is now forty years 
since I worked like you at this Press, as a joumeymau Printer.' The Doctor then 
sent out for a gallon of Porter, and he drank with them, — 
'SUCCESS TO PRINTING. • 

"From the ahove it will appear that it is 108 yea;s since Dr. Franklin worked 
ut this identical Press. — Juoj, 18C3." 



LECTURE BY THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE, 



LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN. 



On Wednesday evening, the 17th November, 1841, the Rev. Hugh 
M'Neile delivered a Lecture, in the Liverpool Royal Amphitheatre, on 
" The Life and Character of Dr. Franklin," for the benefit of the 
Printers' Pension Society, of London. The circumstances under which 
the reverend gentleman consented to lecture upon a subject at once so 
novel and so interesting, are explained by tlie brief correspondence 
which had previously passed between himself and several American 
gentlemen, — a copy of which is embodied in the lecture. 

The announcement of the lecture, as soon as it appeared, caused 
great excitement, and the demand for tickets soon became universal. 
In fact, had the place been able to accommodate double the number, all 
the tickets would have been disposed of. For a long time previous to 
the opening of the doors, the vicinity of the Amphitheatre was crowded 
by an immense and highly respectable public assemblage. At about 
seven o'clock, the house was densely filled in every part ; the auditory 
including a large body of our clergy, with many of the literary and 
scientific gentlemen of whom Liverpool and the immediate neighbour- 
hood has reason to be proud, as well as almost the whole of the elite 
of the town and neighbourhood, and (of course) a considerable number 
of American gentlemen. 

The Worshipful the Mayor of Liverpool (John Shaw Leigh, Esq.,) was 
one of the audience on the occasion. 

Over the proscenium was conspicuously placed the appropriate motto, 
in large characters, extending entirely across the stage : — 

" ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN." 

On the right, directly under the motto, was displayed a large British 
ensign, and on the left the American — the two, conjoined, being in the 
centre. Other colours, including the British Union Jack, the Ame- 
B 



10 

rican flag, and broad pendants of both countries, were also arranged 
at the back, and from the side scenes, as well as from the circle of the 
boxes. 

The stage was enclosed and carpeted, and supplied with reserved 
seats, for a limited number. Each box was in charge of one 
gentleman, who was distinguished by a white favour, and who ren- 
dered every facility in providing the audience with accommodation. The 
equestrian circle formed part of the pit ; and was well furnished with 
seats. The galleries were entirely thrown open, in one immense 
semi-circle, including all the seats above the boxes. A body of police 
(under the immediate and active superintendence of their efficient chief, 
Mr. Whitty,) was in attendance, for the double purpose of enforcing the 
regulations of the committee, and of affording every possible comfort to 
the audience. 

The identical Printing Press at which Franklin v/orked in London 
as a journeyman, in the years 1725-6, was placed on the right of the 
stage, and excited general attention. It was woi'ked upon the stage> 
for some time before the lecture commenced, under the (continued) 
superintendence of Messrs. Mitchell, lleaton, and Mitchell, and impres- 
sions of a verbatim copy of a letter written by Dr. Franklin to the Rev. 
George Whitefield, (copied by Mr. Murray from the original, which is in 
the extensive and valuable collection of autogi'aphs belonging to the 
Rev. Dr. Raffles,) were likewise gratuitously supplied to the audience, 
by the printers already mentioned. 

The Mayor, accompanied by James Aspinall, Esq., Christopher 
Bushell, Esq., and many other members of the Corporation, took his 
seat on the platform, about a quarter past seven, and was received with 
loud and protracted cheering, the whole company rising from their 
seats, waving handkerchiefs, and giving other befitting demonstrations 
of popular applause. His worship ajipeared to be highly gratified with 
the reception he received. There were also present near the Mayor, 
John Moss, Esq., Samuel Sandbach, Esq., C. S. Parker, Esq., the Rev. 
F. Parry, the Rev. F. Ould, the Rev. D. James, &c. &c. In about five 
minutes afterwards, the Rev. Mr. M'Neile came upon the stage, and 
was hailed with the unbounded and enthusiastic plaudits of the whole 
assembly. Exactly at half-past seven o'clock, the reverend gentleman 
rose, and delivered the following lecture. 



LECTURE. 



1 feel that the position in which I now find myself placed 
requires to be accounted for. I will give an account of it 
in a very few words. The week before last, an American 
gentleman, noAV resident in this town, called upon me, and 
asked me to deliver a public Lecture, upon the life of Dr. 
Franklin. The request seemed to me a strange one. — The 
subject, at first sight, did not appear a suitable one ; I was 
very much occupied, and I An-ote a note politely declining 
it. A day or two afterwards, I received this letter: — 

" Liverpool, 5th November, 1841 . 
" Reverend and Dear Sir, 

" We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States of America, 
having heard that an application has been made to you to deliver a lec- 
ture on the life of Dr. Franklin, beg to express our hearty concurrence 
in that request, and to add that we hope you will comply therewith, if it 
be consistent with your other engagements. 

" The object which we have in view in making this request is tM'ofold, 
to render the history of the immortal Franklin useful to your hearers, 
and to benefit the " Printers' Pension Society of London," an institu- 
tion already well known to you as charitable and deserving. 

" We are assured that you will duly appreciate our desire thus made 
known to j'oii, and remain, dear sir, with respect and esteem, your 
obedient servants, 

(Signed by) " Philip Schuyler, American Consul, 

George Wright, 
John B. Murray, of New York, 
Samuel C. Blodget, of Providence, 
Augustus de Peyster, of New York, 
H. Messchert, of Philadelphia, 
R. J. Nichols, of Georgia, 
H. Nichols, ditto, 
George A. Cole, ditto, 
Richard Kernan, ditto, 
Francis Bacon, of Boston, 
Henry Tobias, of New York, 
William Skiddy, of New York, 
Frederick Townsend, ditto, 
George Townsend, ditto, 
S. Washburn, of Massachusetts." 
" To the Rev. Hugh M'Neile." 
B 2 



12 

This letter made the matter a little more serious ; and 
induced me to give it more serious consideration. I remem- 
bered that it is at once the privilege and the duty of the 
Christian minister to hold himself in readiness to improve 
every opportunity, not only "in season but also out of 
season/' to serve his Divine Master ; undeterred either by 
a sense of his own insufficiency, or by any apprehension 
of the criticism of his fellow-creatures. I have ever been 
of opinion that a Christian minister's sei'\ice of his Lord, 
need not and ought not to be scrupulously confined within 
what are usually (and arbitrarily) considered professional 
limits: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:" 
" All his works shall praise Him." 

Authentic history, whether in its national breadth, or 

whether confined within the closer but more personally 

interesting limits of biography, is but another name for 

God's works among men. I fancied that if I consented, 

the opportunity might be made an occasion of a two-fold 

good : — good, as I ventured to hope, from the lecture itself, 

and good to the interests of the poor, aged, disabled printers, 

for whose Pension Society it was proposed that a collection 

should be made. Under these impressions, I wrote the 

following reply : — 

" Roscommon Street, 8th Nov. 1841. 
" Gentlemen, 

" I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 5th instant. 
Although on many important subjects I am compelled wholly to differ 
from your celebrated fellow-citizen. Dr. Franklin, and candidly to avow 
that difference ; yet, admiring, as I do, the energy, industry, and ability 
of his natural character, and feeling that, as a Cliristian minister, I can 
at least honestly aim at usefulness of the highest order, while comment- 
ing on his history, — willing also to do anything in my power in aid of 
the benevolent objects of the Printers' Pension Society, — I have much 
pleasure in complying with your request. 

" Permit me, Gentlemen, to say, that I hail, with sincere gratifica- 
tion, the opportunity thus afforded me, of manifesting (as far as a private 



13 

individual, or a clergyman of England's national church, in his indivi- 
dual capacity, can manifest) that unaffected cordiality and brotherly 
co-operation, which, I trust, will ever characterize the conduct of 
England towards her magnificent daughter in the west, and of America 
towards her venerable mother. 

*' I have the honour to be, 

" Gentlemen, with the highest respect, 

" Your faithful Servant, 

" HUGH M'NEILE." 

" To Philip Schuyler, Esq., American Consul, 
George Wright, Esq., 
John Boyles Murray, Esq., 
&c. &c." 

For the preliminary arrangements, the comfort of which 
it is our privilege now to enjoy, we are indebted to Mr. 
Murray, who, I perceive, has not trusted the interests of 
the poor printers to the result of an appeal to your genero- 
sity after the lecture, but has prudently secured their 
cause by an appeal to your curiosity before-hand ; and to 
that gentleman I beg to tender my personal thanks for his 
kindness throughout the whole of this affair, and I trust 
that before this meeting separates, it will testify the feeling 
which all ought to entertain for the zeal and ability of that 
gentleman. And now, in addressing myself to the dis- 
charge of the duty I have undertaken, I have only further 
to premise that, although my observations are, of course, 
open to subsequent scrutiny, yet if, in their delivery, any 
of them should interfere with the opinions, or unhappily 
wound the feelings of any who are here present, I cast my- 
self with unhesitating confidence on your courtesy as gentle- 
men, and your sense of fair dealing as Englishmen, to guard 
me against any attempt at unseasonable interruption. 

Dr. Franklin was descended from an ancient, though 
humble, family in Northamptonshire. His ancestors, at an 



14 

early period, embraced the reformed religion, and continued 
members of the national church till the close of the reign 
of Charles the Second. At that time his father and uncle 
joined the nonconformists, which eventually led to their 
emigration to America. He says, " My father man-ied 
young, and carried his wife with three children to New 
England, about 1682. The conventicles being at that time 
forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed in the meetings, 
some considerable men of his acquaintances, determined 
to go to that country, and he was prevailed with to accom- 
pany them thither, where they expected to enjoy the 
exercise of their religion with freedom." 

Benjamin was the youngest son of his father, and born 
in Bostdn, in New England, on the l7th January, 17O6. 
A liberal education was unattainable, in the straitened cir- 
cumstances of the family ; and after a very brief and in- 
adequate instruction in the rudiments of grammar, he found 
himself, at ten years old, taken to help his father in his 
business, Avhich was that of a tallow-chandler and soap- 
boiler. 

It is interesting to trace the gigantic oak back to the 
saplin twig; the deep and expansive river back to its 
originating stream in the mountain ; and here we behold 
the man, Avho, afterwards, had the civilized world for his 
auditory, commencing his career " in cutting the wick for 
candles, filling the moulds, attending the shop, going on 
errands, &c.^' 

He disliked the trade very much, and, although he was 
passionately fond of books, he imbibed the apparently in- 
compatible desire to go to sea : but his father declared 
against that ; and one of the earliest traits in the character 
of this germ of greatness, demanding and rewarding our 



15 

attention, is his submission to parental authority. It is 
true that afterwards, to escape from the unkind and 
unjust treatment of his brother, or under the prevaiHng 
power of temptation, he left home without leave ; but for 
this he expressed deep regret, and for a long season, he re- 
pressed his ardent desires after a different line of life, and 
endured the drudgery, first of his father's and then of his 
brother's shop, in compliance with his father's wishes. 

His brother James was a printer. Benjamin liked this 
rather better than his father's business, but still " had a 
hankering for the sea." His father proposed to bind him 
as an apprentice to his brother ; he was extremely reluctant, 
and had he yielded to his own wishes instead of respecting 
his sense of filial duty, he would have resisted : but he did 
otherwise and much better. He honoured his father, and 
signed the indenture, binding himself as an apprentice to 
his brother till he should reach his twenty-first year. Does 
the meridian splendor of Franklin's unparalleled success 
arrest the ambitious gaze, and excite the emulating long- 
ings of any of our hopeful youths ? Let such look back 
to the morning twilight, and see, in the boy Benjamin's 
dutiful compliance with his father's wishes, a practical com- 
ment upon the language of an inspired Apostle, " Honour 
thy father and mother, which is the first commandment 
with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou 
mayest live long on the earth." 

In his brother's business, and amongst his new asso- 
ciates, he found access to books of a more miscellaneous 
chai'acter than those which had been supplied by his father's 
little library of controversial divinity. Here he read, not 
merely and idly for amusement, as too many young per- 
sons do ; neither simply to receive, in a passive manner, 
useful information ; but he set himself with activity and 



16 

earnestness, and most praiseworthy pains-taking, to culti- 
vate the power of communicating information to others. 
He desired to be a writer as well as a reader ; and for the 
improvement of his style of composition he adopted a plan, 
which I will here describe in his own words, strenuously 
recommending it to the attention of my young friends 
around, who are starting in the world as intelligent students. 

" About this time, I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. I 
had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, 
and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and 
wished if possible to imitate it. With that view, I took some of the 
papers, and making short hints of the sentiments in each sentence, laid 
them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to 
complete the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at 
length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable 
words that should occur to me. Then I compared my Spectator with 
the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I 
found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and 
using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time, 
if I had gone on making verses ; since the continual search for words 
of the same import, but of different length to suit the measure, or of 
different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant 
necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that 
variety in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some 
of the tales in the Speciator, and turned them into verse : and after a 
time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back 
again. I also sometimes jumbled my collection of hints into confusion, 
and after some weeks, endeavoured to reduce them into the best order 
before I began to form the full sentences and complete the subject. 
This was to teach me method in the arrangement of the thoughts. By 
comparing my work with the original, I discovered many faults, and 
corrected them ; but I sometimes had the pleasure to fancy that in 
certain particulars of small consequence, I had been fortunate enough 
to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to 
think that I might in time come to be a tolerable English writer ; of 
which I was extremely ambitious." 



His habits of study were greatly promoted by his habits 
of temperance, and these were the easy and natural results 
of early impressions while under his excellent father's roof. 



17 

Concerning his fathei-'s domestic management he records 
with grateful admiration, that — 

" At his table he liked to have, as often as he could, some sensible 
friend or neighbour to converse with, and always took care to start some 
ingenious or useful topic for discourse which might tend to improve the 
minds of his children. By this means he turned our attention to what 
was good, just, and prudent, in the conduct of life ; and little or no 
notice was ever taken of what related to the victuals on the table ; 
whether it was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad 
flavor, preferable or inferior to this or that other thing of the kind : so 
that I was brought up in such a perfect inattention to those matters, as 
to be quite indifferent what kind of food was set before me. Indeed I 
am so unobservant of it, that to this day I can scarce tell a few hours after 
dinner, of what dishes it consisted. This has been a great convenience 
to me in travelling, where my companions have been sometimes very 
unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of their more delicate, 
because better instructed, tastes and appetites." 

He and his brother James did not agree; and, after 
divers altercations, Benjamin fled from Boston to seek 
employment in his trade at New York. He was not 
successful there ; but receiving a recommendation to a 
printer in Philadelphia, he proceeded to that city. His 
journey, both by land and by water, was full of disasters, 
of a trifling, but, under his circumstances, a most dis- 
heartening character ; and his position on reaching Phila- 
delphia, was abject and pitiable in the extreme. He got 
into a printing oflice, however; and the effects of his 
superior knowledge and industry in his business, were 
soon manifest both to his master and his customers. Sir 
William Keith, then Governor of the province, professed a 
patronizing attachment for the young man ; and, in the 
exercise of a barbarous vanity, encouraged him, by false 
promises, to sail for England. In December, 1724, in his 
nineteenth year, he found himself in London, with a 
slender purse, a pennyless friend, who was a burden to 
him, and his supposed letters of commendation and credit 



18 

from Sir William Keith, nothing but a cruel disappoint- 
ment. " What," he exclaims, " shall we think of a 
Governor playing such pitiful tricks, and imposing so 
grossly on a poor ignorant boy ! It was a habit he had 
acquired. He wished to please every body ; and having 
little to give, he gave expectations.'^ Yet in the midst of 
this natural indignation, he nobly does the Governor 
justice in other respects, adding, " He was otherwise an 
ingenious, sensible man ; a pretty good writer, and a good 

Governor for the people Several of our best 

laws were of his planning, and passed during his adminis- 
tration." 

Franklin was not to be discouraged. He got employ- 
ment in London as a printer. He found time for both 
reading and writing; and though he did not much im- 
prove his pecuniary, he improved his mental resources. 
Of his residence in London he gives this brief review : — 

" Thus I passed about eighteen months in London ; most part of the 
time I worked hard at my business, and spent but little upon myself 
except in seeing plays, and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me 
poor ; he owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which I was now never 
likely to receive ; a great sum out of my small earnings ! I loved him 
notwithstanding, for he had many amiable qualities. I had improved 
my knowledge, however, though I had by no means improved my 
fortune j but I had made some very ingenious acquaintance, whose con- 
versation was of great advantage to me; and I had read considerably." 

It was during a part of this period that he was engaged 
on that small Printing Press, which has excited so much 
curiosity, and is at this day looked upon with so much 
interest, through the medium of the subsequent celebrity 
of the man who once toiled over it for his daily bread. 

This is the link which connects the name and history of 
Franklin, not only with this press, but also with the Society 



19 

established in London, for giving small pensions to aged 
and infirm printers and their widows. Such a Society, 
properly conducted, is, beyond all doubt, entitled to our 
cordial, our grateful support. For to what class of the 
community, I Mould ask, are we so much indebted, instru- 
mentally, for our best enjoyments, our most rational im- 
provements, our personal, relative, national, political, and 
religious blessings, as to the printers ? Doubtless, it is the 
human mind, and not the printing press, that, under God, 
originates the treasures ; but from the printer, as from the 
rock in the wilderness, the stream of knowledge flows 
forth, and follows and supplies the mighty host. It is 
painful to think that, in still further resemblance of the 
rock, he who transmits the sweet soft waters to so many, 
should himself remain hard and dry ; that the compositor, 
on the result of whose nightly toil thousands daily luxu- 
riate, should, in the premature decrepitude incurred by his 
unwholesome work, be dismissed, not only by his imme- 
diate employer, — who cannot, of course, be expected to sup- 
port him when he must employ others, — but dismissed by 
the public also, without a pang, nay, without a thought. 

It is to meet this painful case, to invite the public to 
ihe exercise of a kindly sympathy with such sufferers, and 
a grateful supply of the Avants of such unobtrusive bene- 
factors, that the Printers' Pension Society is established 
in London ; and a branch, I believe, in Liverpool. I know 
nothing of its internal management ; but supposing it to 
be judiciously as well as honestly conducted, I venture 
cordially to commend it to general support. 

Franklin returned to Philadelphia under engagement 
with a mercantile gentleman, and in the expectation of 
having no more to do with the life of a printer. Again he 
was disappointed ; and again we find him, in the elasticity 



20 

of his indomitable perseverance, seeking for employment 
from his old master. He obtained it ; and was soon the 
factotum of the establishment. One of his companions 
and fellow-workmen^ named Meredith, at the expiration of 
his apprenticeship, proposed to Franklin that they should 
go into partnership, and set up a business for themselves. 
It was hazardous to venture a third printing-house in 
Philadelphia at the time, and many persons supposed they 
would find it necessarily a failure : but Franklin thought 
otherwise, and gave himself to it with an assiduity which 
secured success. 

Of this part of his history he gives the following account, 
which I have great pleasure in transcribing, on account of 
its bearing on what I have ever considered the heart's core 
of the great practical secret of success, in every work to be 
accomplished by human industry — I mean early rising : — 

" Breintnal, particularly, procured us from the Quakers the printing 
forty sheets of their history, the rest being to be done by Keimer ; and 
upon these we worked exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It was 
a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long-primer notes. I composed a 
sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off at press ; it was often eleven at 
night, and sometimes later, before I had finished my distribution for 
the next day's work. For the little jobs sent in by our friends now and 
then put us back. But so determined I was to continue doing a sheet 
a day of the folio, that one night, when, having imposed my forms, I 
thought my day's work over, one of them by accident was broken, and 
two pages reduced to pie ; I immediately distributed, and composed it 
over again before I went to bed : and this industry, visible to our 
neighbours, began to give us character and credit ; particularly I was 
told, that mention being made of the new printing-office, at the mer- 
chants' every-night club, the general opinion was that it must fail, 
there being already two printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford ; 
but Dr. Baird (whom you and I saw many years after in his native 
place, St. Andrew's, in Scotland,) gave a contrary opinion ; ' For the 
industry of that Franklin,' said he, ' is superior to anything I ever saw 
of the kind ; I see him still at work when I go home from club, and he 
is at work again before his neighbours are out of bed.' This struck 
the rest, and we soon after had offers from one of them to supply 



21 

us with stationerj"^ ; but as yet we did not chuse to engage in shop 
business. 

" I mentioned this industry the more particularly and the more freely, 
though it seems to be talking in my own praise, that those of my pos- 
terity who shall read it, may know the use of that virtue, when they 
see its efTects in my favor throughout this relation." 



Encouraged by this hint of this great man^ I will here 
take the liberty of recording an occurrence which took 
place not very long since in this town. 

A journeyman house-painter, who had long entertained 
infidel opinions, was engaged in his trade upon the out- 
side of a house nearly opposite mine. From his elevated 
position he could see over my blind into my study. At 
an early hour he so saw me at my work ; and again, the 
next morning when he arrived, he found I was before him. 
His curiosity was excited, and the following morning he 
came much earlier ; still I was before him. He ascer- 
tained who I was, and continued to w^atch me while his 
job in my neighbourhood lasted. Meanwhile he began, as 
I afterwards learned, to reason thus with himself: " This 
gentleman must be in earnest at all events, whether right 
or wrong. The result of all this reading and writing so 
early, morning after morning, must be worth hearing. I'll 
go and hear what he has to say.^' Accordingly, the man 
came to my Church. He heard me describe the aching 
anxieties of the human soul, not to be satisfied with any 
created objects, but exhausting them all, and aching still, 
until repose is found in the bosom of the Creator. He 
heard me describe the way in which such holy repose may 
be enjoyed, even by a guilty creature. His heart was 
touched ; the true cause of his infidelity was detected — 
not a want of evidence for the revelation of God, but a 
want of willingness in the man to be conformed to the 
character of God. Before a rising willingness to be holy, 



22 

all the scepticism of his understanding gave way ; and, 
from a sullen infidel, he is now, 1 trust, a happy Christian. 

Franklin was not content with the due and diligent 
performance of his duties as a printer. He aimed at 
improvement on every side. He formed a club, or Junto 
as they called it, consisting of the best-informed persons 
of his acquaintance ; the regulations of which obliged 
every member to propose, in his turn, one or more ques- 
tions upon some point of morality, politics, or philosophy, 
which were discussed by the Society, and to read, once in 
three months, an essay of his own composition, on what- 
ever subject he pleased to select. The questions were 
read a week previous to their discussion, and the members 
of the junto were thereby induced to peruse attentively 
such books as they could procure upon the subjects pro- 
posed, that they might be able to speak upon them the 
more satisfactorily. This exercise cultivated Franklin's 
talent for composition, and prepared him for the next step 
in his career, which rapidly urged him forward into pub- 
licity and prominence. — This was the conducting of a 
newspaper. In the discussions which arose about that 
time on the subject of a paper currency, Franklin distin- 
guished himself, greatly, improving his circumstances and 
property, as well as his literary and political reputation. 

Ordinary men of his origin and early habits, M'ould have 
been abundantly content Avith the position he had now 
attained. But no ordinary man, under his circumstances 
at the outset, could have attained it ; and the extraordinary 
impulse of character which had impelled him successfully 
so far, continued with unabated energy to urge him on- 
ward still. There was a magnificence of benevolence 
about the man, which prevented him from ever terminating 
his views in himself. He desired to be a benefactor of his 



23 

species ; and he succeeded. The public Hbrary which he 
established in Philadelphia, (the first that had ever been 
known in America,) tended to elevate the character of his 
fellow-citizens, by extricating the minds of many leading 
men from the mere drudging routine of business, and 
giving them a taste for the purer atmosphere of literary 
and scientific improvement. Still Franklin himself not 
only pointed the way, but kept foremost upon it. 

I cannot attempt even to enumerate, much less to 
comment upon, his various scientific labours. I am, 
however, forcibly reminded of one thing ; — many asso- 
ciations combine to this effect. The house in which we 
are assembled, the scene now before me, the platform I 
now occupy, all tend to recall the interesting lectures and 
beautiful experiments of Mr. Snow Harris, when the 
Scientific Association met in this place. His model ship, 
his conducting wires, the artificial flashes emitted from 
his little floating clouds charged with electric matter, — his 
whole exquisite exhibition by which we were all so much 
instructed and delighted : these crowd upon my mind, 
while I avail myself of this opportunity to do justice to 
the memory of our American brother, by telling those of 
this assembly who do not already know the fact, that for 
the discovery of these conductors, for the application of 
this scientific shield over our buildings and vessels, from 
the otherwise destructive fury of the bui'sting electric 
cloud in the thunder-gust, mankind are indebted, under 
the good providence of God, to the philosophical genius of 
Dr. Franklin. Why are not those conductors more gene- 
rally used ? Why are the spires of our churches in town 
and country so generally without the protection ? Is it 
the expense? Do men argue that the disasters are few 
and the expenses great ? I would appeal to the authorities 
of Liverpool, here present, and 1 would ask them to com- 



24 

pare the expense of maintaining conductors for years^ with 
the expense which will have to be incuri'ed in the spring, in 
repairing the two spires which were struck Avith lightning 
last summer. I protest I think it a disgrace to a scientific 
country, that, after the discoveries which have been made, 
our spires, and I fear I may say many of our ships, are 
still Avithout conductors. It was clearly demonstrated by 
the philosopher to whom I refen'cd, that conductors may be 
made by breaking rods into pieces, and lapping them over, 
so as to yield a little to and fro, without ceasing to touch 
one another; and thus to adapt themselves to the elasti- 
city of the masts, that they may be placed without inter- 
fering in the slightest degree with the surrounding tackling. 
Is it possible then, that vessels are allowed to leave our 
ports without such conductors ? I do not pretend to be 
very conversant with such matters; but if so, I do say it 
would be lawful for the underwriters to charge a higher 
premium for insuring every vessel that had not conductors 
at the mast. 

Time would fail me for even a hasty sketch of Franklin^s 
unwearied assiduity in the various departments of practical 
science, or of the discoveries of his acute and penetrating 
mind, — discoveries which astonished the Academies of 
Science in England and France ; and well entitled 
him to the warm eulogium of Lord Chatham in the 
House of Lords. Franklin was leaning on the bar, when 
Lord Chatham proposed his plan for the amicable adjust- 
ment of American affairs. Lord Sandwich opposed it ; 
and, turning towards the bar, uttered some unworthy 
sneers against Franklin as the secret author of it. Lord 
Chatham, in his reply, repelled the illiberal insinuation, 
that the plan was not his own who proposed it ; declared 
that it was entirely his own ; but at the same time de- 
clared, that if he were the first minister of the country, he 



25 

would not be ashamed of publicly calling to his assistance 
a man so perfectly acquainted Avith the whole of American 
affairs, as the gentleman alluded to, and so injuriously re- 
flected on : — " A gentleman," continued Lord Chatham, 
turning towards Franklin, " whom all Europe held in 
estimation for his knowledge and his wisdom, and ranked 
with our Boyles and Newtons ; who was an honour, not 
to the English nation only, but to human nature." 

It would be highly gratifying to be able to speak in 
terms of similar admiration, concerning Franklin's philo- 
sophy in other and higher respects. But the history of 
this great man supplies no exception to the rule, that 
" the world by wisdom knew not God." On the contrary, 
whether we contemplate the physical or moral attributes 
of the Deity, we are compelled to recognize in the writings 
of Franklin, another melancholy illustration of that Athe- 
nian worship which was offered, AyvMo-To) 0€co, " To the 
unknown God." 

I quote the following paper, (dated Philadelphia, No- 
vember 20, 1728,) for the purpose of inviting attention to 
what appears to me its fallacy, philosophically considered, 
independent of any peculiarities of theology : — 

" I believe there is one supreme most iDerfect Being, author anrl 
father of the gods themselves. 

" For I believe that man is not the most perfect being but one, but 
rather that there are many degrees of beings superior to him. 

" Also when I stretch my imagination through and beyond our system 
of planets, beyond the visible fixed stars themselves, into that space that 
is every way infinite, and conceive it filled with suns like ours, each 
with a chorus of worlds for ever moving round him ; then this little ball 
on which we move, seems, even in my narrow imagination, to be almost 
nothing, and myself less than nothing, and of no sort of consequence. 

" When I think thus, I imagine it great vanity in me to suppose, that 
the supremely-perfect does in the least regard such an inconsiderable 
nothing as man ; more especially, since it is impossible for me to have 
C 



26 

any clear idea of that which is infinite and incomprehensible. I cannot 
conceive otherwise, than that he, the infinite Father, expects or requires 
no worship or praise from us, but that he is even infinitely above it. 

" But since there is in all men something like a natural principle 
which inclines them to devotion, or the worship of some unseen power; 

" And since men are endued with reason, superior to all other animals 
that we are in our world acquainted with ; 

" Therefore I think it seems required of me, and my duty, as a man, 
to pay divine regards to something. 

" I conceive then that the Infinite has created many beings or gods, 
vastly superior to man, who can better conceive his perfections than we, 
and return him a more rational and glorious praise : 

" As, among men, the praise of the ignorant or of children, is not re- 
garded by the ingenious painter or architect, who is rather honored and 
pleased with the approbation of wise men and artists. 

" It may be these created gods are immortal ; or it may be that after 
many ages, they are changed, and others supply their places. 

" Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is exceeding wise and 
good, and very powerful ; and that each has made for himself one glo- 
rious sun, attended with a beautiful and admirable system of planets. 

" It is that particular wise and good God, who is the author and 
owner of our system, that I propose for the object of my praise and ado- 
ration." 

Here the Almighty is represented as acting on a system 
which characterises the infirmity of human rulers, as if 
He were not personally omnipresent, but removed far above 
and beyond the details of his own creation, leaving the 
various departments of it to the superintending manage- 
ment of inferior created deities ; or rather, as if He were 
not the direct Creator of all worlds and systems, but only 
the Creator imprimis of a number of subordinate Creators ; 
not condescending to expect or require the worship or praise 
of such creatures as we are, but infinitely above it. 
Yet here He is called, " The Infinite One." But where, I 
must ask, is the philosophy of representing infinity as ex- 
tending only on the side of what we call greatness, and not 
also on the side of what we call littleness ? Surely infinite 
wisdom perceives, and infinite power preserves, and infinite 
superintendence directs and upholds the impalpable atom 



27 

which ftoats in the solar beam, as truly, and as really, and 
as personally, as the greatest planetary system performing 
its evolutions around its solar centre. Surely the micro- 
scope opens a vista as impenetrable to finite discovery in the 
depths of its distant recesses, as any opened by the tele- 
scope. Surely this scheme of a created inferior manager 
of our particular system, as the object of our worship, 
while the Great Supreme is infinitely above it, differs little 
from the epicurean branch of the heathen mythology. But 
oh ! how widely does it differ from the Revelation of Him 
who " guideth Arcturus with his sons, binding the sweet 
influences of Pleiades, and loosing the bands of Orion," 
— and who, at the same time, upholds the sparrow on our 
housetops, and keepeth count of the hairs of our heads ! — 
of Him, in whose hand of power the earth is as a drop in a 
bucket, or the small dust which turneth not the balance ; 
while His heart of tenderness is touched with a feeling of 
every human infirmity. 

Franklin^s strenuous endeavours to attain to a perfect 
morality of conduct, are interesting and instructive in the 
highest degree. 

His religious creed is thus described by himself: — 

" I never was without some religious principles : I never doubted, 
for instance, the existence of a Deity ; that he made the world, and 
governed it by his providence :" — 

— You have heard the more detailed view he took of this : 
and, I should say, the paper I have read was written when 
he was a young man; so young, that I should not think it 
fair to refer to it, as a specimen of his philosophy, but that 
he refers to it himself, at an advanced period of his life, 
and says he fell back upon the use of it, after rejecting the 
preaching of a Presbyterian minister, whom he names. — 
c 2 



28 

— " I never doubted, that the most acceptajble service of God was 
the doing good to man ; that our souls are immortal ; and that all 
crimes will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter : 
these I esteemed the essentials of every religion, and being to be fouiid 
in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, though 
with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mixed 
with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote, or 
confirm morality, served principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly 
to one another. 

Acting on these, he laid down detailed and rigid rules 
for his own daily observance. 

" It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of 
arriving at moral jierfection ; I wished to live without committing any 
fault at any time, and to conquer all that either natural inclination, 
custom or company, might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I 
knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not alicays 
do the one and avoid the other." 

— Here is an honest confession of ignorance on the part 
of this great and accomplished man. He did not know 
why it was that he could not succeed in his moral efforts. 
It was not for want of zeal ; he was zealous beyond prece- 
dent, but still unsuccessful. — 

" But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than 
I had imagined : while my attention was taken up, and care employed, 
in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another : habit 
took the advantage of inattention ; inclination was sometimes too 
strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative 
conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not 
sufficient to prevent our slipping ; and that the contrary habits must be 
broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have 
any dependance on a steady uniform rectitude of conduct. For this 
purpose I therefore tried the following method." — 

Let this progress in his state of mind be carefully ob- 
served. At first he thought that speculative conviction of 
the understanding might secure undeviating morality. In 



29 

this he was compeired, by painful experience, to recognise 
his mistake. Something more was required, and he came 
to the conclusion that opposing habits must be broken, and 
good ones acquired and established, before a steady and 
uniform rectitude of conduct can be depended upon. Here 
the breaking down of evil habits, and the acquirement and 
establishment of good ones, are proposed as means toward 
the attainment of the end of exact morals. But these 
means include the end. For what has the man done, who 
has broken off all evil habits, and acquired and established 
good ones ? He has ipso facto attained to uniform recti- 
tude of conduct. And it is every way worthy of most 
serious consideration, that a man of Franklin's extraordi- 
nary acuteness and closeness of reasoning on other subjects, 
should have contented himself with such inconclusive loose- 
ness, upon this important one. 

He found by experience that the honest intention to ac- 
quire virtuous habits was as ineffectual as the speculative 
conviction that it was right, and our interest, to be virtuous. 

He tried the following systematic method, which I must 
give in his own words : — 

" In the various enumeration3 of the moral virtues I had met with in 
my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different 
writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, 
for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking ; while by 
others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, 
appetite, inclination or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice 
and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use 
rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names 
with more ideas ; and I included under thirteen names of virtues, all 
t hat at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable ; and 
annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I 
gave to its meaning. 

" These names of virtues, with their precepts, were ; 

" 1. Temperance. — Eat not 1o dullness : drink not to elevation. 



30 

" 2. Silence. — Speak not but what may b^efit others or yourself : 
avoid trifling conversation. 

" 3. Order. — Let all your things have their places : let each part of 
your business have its time. 

"4. Resolution. — Resolve to perform what you ought; perform 
without fail what you resolve. 

" 5. Frugality. — Make no expence but to do good to others or 
yourself; i. e. Waste nothing. 

" 6. Industry. — Lose no time ; be always employed in something 
useful ; cut off all unnecessary actions. 

" 7. Sincerity. — Use no hurtful deceit ; think innocently and 
justly ; and if you speak, speak accordingly. 

" 8. Justice. — Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the 
benefits that are your duty. 

" 9. Moderation. — Avoid extremes : forbear resenting injuries so 
much as you think they deserve. 

" 10. Cleanliness. — ^Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or 
habitation. 

"11. Tranquillity. — Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents 
common or unavoidable. 

" 12. Chastity. — Avoid injury to your own, or another's peace or 
happiness. 

" 13. Humility. — Imitate Jesus, and Socrates. 

" My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I 
judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the 
whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time ; and when I 
should be master of that, then to proceed to another ; and so on till I 
should have gone through the thirteen. And as the previous acqui- 
sition of some, might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I 
arranged them with that view as they stand above. 

" I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the 
virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, 
one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for 
the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the 
beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues ; on 
which line, and in its proper column, I might mark by a little black 
spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed 
respecting that virtue, upon that day." 

Then follows a /ac simile * of a page of his little book 
for one week. This page contains fourteen black spots. 

* See Page 44. 



31 

Now if we give him credit for perfect discernment of himself, 
so that no secret fault escaped his notice, — and for perfect 
honesty and candour in recording all he detected, so that 
in deed and in truth he was guilty of only fourteen faults 
in a week, — then, comparing him with mankind in general, 
we have a rare and beauteous specimen of moral excellence : 
comparing him with the requirements of his fellow-creatures 
one from another, the requirements of his country, his 
friends, his family, we have before us an object not only of 
admiration, but of affection also, such as the young Ruler 
who told our Saviour of his morality, and of whom it is 
recorded, that Jesus loved him. 

But are these the only relations in which a man stands — 
to his family, his friends, his country, his fellow-creatures ? 
When all these are considered, is the subject complete — 
reasonably complete, as regards an immortal, intelligent, 
sensitive, and responsible being ? Surely not. One thing 
is lacking : — the relationship in which the man stands to 
God and to the law of God's moral government. 

The moral government of the Almighty is not confined 
to man as its subject. It extends over other — who can 
tell how many other, intelligent beings ? It is the govern- 
ment of mind, as distinguished from that of matter. The 
resources of God ai'e infinite. By the attraction of gravi- 
tation, the centrifugal impetus, and their sustained balance. 
He governs the material universe. By the moral law, ad- 
dressed to the conscience, affections, and understanding of 
moral agents. He governs the universe of mind. The moral 
law awakens the two most powerful principles of our moral 
nature — hope and fear. It addresses hope by promises of 
illustrious rewards to obedience ; and it addresses fear by 
threatenings of signal punishment against disobedience. 
This, so far, formed a part of Franklin's creed. He believed 



32 

" that all crimes will be punished, and virtue rewarded, 
either here or hereafter/^ 

The efficacy of the Divine law, as an instrument of go- 
vernment, must be proportioned to the confidence which 
the subjects of the great Governor repose in its promises 
and threatenings. If the promises be viewed with distrust 
as to their faithful and exact fulfilment, they will have 
no power to excite to obedience. In like manner, if the 
threatenings be considered doubtful as to their rigid exe- 
cution, they will have no power to deter from transgression. 

Imagine the first introduction of transgression against 
the Divine law. Imagine an angel having one black spot 
to account for, and all the surrounding hosts to see it. The 
threatenings of the perfect law, which made no allowance 
for even a single failure, are incurred ; and all eyes are 
turned towards the Sovereign. He is put upon His trial 
to be judged of by His own creatures, and the result is to 
determine whether He shall be " clear when He is Judged." 
Will He, or will He not, be as good as His word? Are 
the threatenings of the law real, or are they only alarming 
words ? If they prove vain, if the transgressor remains 
unpunished, Avhat must be the consequence ? Will not all 
the intelligent subjects of the government learn to despise 
the law ? Will not, must not the law lose all its moral 
poAver as an instrument of rule, and must not anarchy 
prevail throughout the entire Kingdom ? Such must be 
the inevitable result, if the moral Governor allowed Him- 
self to be actuated by compassion towards the transgressor ; 
to the sacrifice of undeviating principle towards the great 
bulk of His subjects. 

In the light of this law, — in the relationship which every 
man occupies towards this government, look back at 



33 

Franklin^s fourteen spots in a week, — and not a whisper in 
any of his writings about a remedy ! Not even a specula- 
tion as to how such faults can escape the threatened penalty, 
consistently with the unblemished veracity of the Law- 
giver ! or consistently with his real benevolence towards 
the countless millions of his intelligent subjects ! For be 
it observed, that such compassion towards one moral crea- 
ture who had transgressed, as would relax the efficacy of 
law as an instrument of government, would be a refinement 
of cruelty, most barbarous towards all the thousands and 
tens of thousands of moral creatures who had not trans- 
gressed. 

If compassion cannot be shown without relaxing the law, 
it cannot be shown at all. Here is the ne plus ultra of 
deism, — the utter shipwreck of every human hope by the 
works of the law, unless such works be absolutely, univer- 
sally, and permanently perfect. 

A public character, sustaining an important office of go- 
vernment, (a judge for instance,) is not at liberty to act 
upon his feelings of compassion as a private individual. 
As a man he may have such feelings, and in his private 
capacity he may act upon them very amiably ; but to do so 
in his public character, and in the execution of his public 
office, as a judge, would be criminal, not amiable, — 
destructive, not benevolent. 

Even a Father of a numerous family is not at liberty to 
act upon his private personal feelings towards any one 
child, without reference to the effect to be produced by 
such conduct upon all the other children. 

What then ? — I say it not in harshness — I say it in the 
penetrated feeling of an affectionate heart towards every 



34 

man : — What can deism, in any of its modifications, say ? 
I behold in Dr. Franklin, a splendid specimen of it in its 
best estate; and I see him, upon his own showing, spotted 
with guilt, — and dumb, absolutely dumb, as to the pardon 
of that guilt. 

The resources of Almighty God are indeed infinite, and the 
revelation of those resources, even in part, even in that part 
required by man's necessities, places every created intellect 
in the position of a little child. " The angels desire to look 
into them. Without controversy great is the mystery of 
godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, seen of angels. 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. And in the fulness of the 
appointed time, the Word was made flesh." Thus was a 
Days-man constituted, to lay his hand upon both ; his hand 
of eternal power and godhead upon the high consistency 
of heaven ; his hand of spotless humanity upon the deep 
necessities of earth. He achieved the arduous project of 
undeviating moral perfection. Upon the book of the weeks 
of his life, examined with reference to both God and man, 
and examined from infancy till death, there appears no 
spot ; no, not the minutest speck of failure. Yet He who 
so lived without transgression, suffered the whole penalty 
incurred by a transgressor. His body endured torture, 
under the hand of ruffian violence, unto a death of blood. 
His soul endured torture under the hand of the great 
Judge, carrying into execution the righteous sentence of 
the holy moral law. This was spiritual death, and all this 
the wages of transgression, according to laiv. He suflered ; 
not for himself, he deserved it not. He obeyed ; not for 
himself, he required it not ; but he obeyed as man, supply- 
ing all the righteousness required of man as a subject under 
the divine law ; and he suffered as man, enduring all the 
penalty incurred by man as a transgressor of the divine law. 



35 

The countless millions of the intelligent subjects of the 
Divine Government, beheld the mighty interference for 
us men, and for our salvation ; and they discovered, 
with wonder, joy, and praise, fresh depths of the manifold 
wisdom of their God, exhibited in this stupendous work, 
by which he retains, over all, the inflexible integrity of 
the Legislator and the Judge, while he exercises towards 
man the unrestrained tenderness and pardoning love of a 
friend and a father. 

Mercy and Truth, — truth in heaven, and mercy on 
earth, have met together: Righteousness and Peace, — 
righteousness in heaven, and peace in earth, — have kissed 
each other. 

The atonement is made, that God may return to fallen 
man in mercy ; and the atonement is preached, that man 
may return to a holy God in love. Fallen man is as an 
outcast planet, beyond the reach of the gravitation of its 
system, and wandering through space to the blackness of 
darkness for ever. The Incarnation, moral perfection, and 
vicarious sacrifice, of the Lord Jesus Christ, are a mighty 
interference from the great centre, on behalf of the outcast 
wanderer, going forth to seek and to save, exhibiting to the 
fallen one how evil and bitter a thing it is to be separated 
from the great Light, opening the way, and showing the 
way back, and then, having attracted and won the alienated 
heart by this condescension of love, rising and drawing up 
those loving hearts within the circling harmony of their 
original holy sphere. Thus is regained what the 
Apostles celebi-ate as fellowship with God. 

This is our view of God's dealing with the black spot. If 
we sin ; if we strive, as Franklin strove, for that high morality, 
— as strive we ought; — and if we find, as Franklin found, 



36 

that inclination is stronger than reason, and that temptation 
takes advantage of inattention in the mind — if any man 
finds himself obliged to have a black mark in the book — 
" if any man sin/^ — (alas, M^e read nothing, in this man's 
writings, of an advocate with the Father,)-^" we have an 
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and 
He is the propitiation for our sins." 

Franklin heard of this. Among others, George Whit- 
field proclaimed the pardoning love of God, in the ears of 
the Philosopher. They had personal intercourse also, and 
some correspondence : but, great and useful as Franklin 
was among men, we find no trace in his history (any more 
than in his creed) of that tender newness, that joyous 
thankfulness, that self-renouncing meekness of spirit, in- 
separable from communion with God. 

The Editor of his Memoirs says of him, with unfeigned 
admiration, that " in every character, whether as a private 
individual, or a public diplomatist, as a philosophical in- 
quirer, or the legislator of an enlightened nation, he con- 
stantly proved, throughout his long and eventful career, 
that he estimated his extraordinary talents of no other 
value, than as enabling him to promote, as far as in him lay, 
the happiness of all mankind." 

This is true. He rose no higher; and in the estimation 
of those who think this high enough, who consider it per- 
fection in a man, to aim, in disinterested benevolence, at the 
present improvement, and happiness in this world, of his 
fellow-men, without a thought, or wish, or aim concerning 
man's eternal happiness, or God's glory, Franklin must 
appear all but perfection. Gifted with great natural powers, 
improved, cultivated, drilled with almost superhuman in- 
dustry and perseverance, — alas ! that we must stop here ! 



37 

Yet so it is. The Christian student, animated in his lower 
walks of moral duty and present usefulness by so strenu- 
ous an example, lays down the memoir, with a sigh — 
Oh ! that we had another authentic chapter, wherein to 
walk with God, as friends ! 

Upon Franklin's political principles I will offer no 
comment. I do not agree in them, and I do not anticipate 
any benefit from a passing expression of disagreement. 
Concerning his political history, I will merely record the 
application of a passage of Scripture, which he says his 
father frequently applied, and which he has very feelingly 
applied to himself, when he found himself the Minister 
Plenipotentiary from the United States at the Court of 
France, and honoured with the domestic intercourse of the 
palace; — when he found himself also enrolled as a member 
of the various scientific societies in France, in Italy, and 
in Russia ; he records, and I was struck with it, his father's 
saying, that saying of Solomon : — " Seest thou a man dili- 
gent in his business ? He shall stand before Kings, he shall 
not stand before mean men" 

I might now briefly draw towards a close. I feel 
that a considerable portion of my labour is already done. 
The interests of the Printers' Pension Society have been 
secured beforehand, and a collection has been made, 
such as is not often made. I might therefore now advance 
to tell you of the death of Franklin — I might tell you of 
the epitaph he wrote on himself, in which he places a 
degree of dependence on revelation beyond what appears 
in his systematic creed. In his epitaph he anticipates the 
resurrection of the body — one of the truths brought 
to light only by the Gospel ; for, however it may be darkly 
guessed at by the analogies of nature, it was brought to 
light by the Gospel. The immortality of the soul appears 



38 

to have been known by those who had no access to Revela- 
tion, but the Resurrection of the body is made known and 
sure, only by the word of God. 

THE BODY 

OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 

printer, 

(LIKE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOK, 

ITS CONTENTS TORN OUT, 

AND STRIPT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING,) 

LIES HERE, FOOD FOR WORMS ; 

YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL NOT BE LOST, 

FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) APPEAR ONCE MORE 

IN A NEW 

AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION, 

CORRECTED AND AMENDED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 

He enjoyed wonderful health through a long life, which 
he naturally attributed to his exemplary habits of tem- 
perance : but in the beginning of April, 1790, he was 
attacked with a fever and a complaint of his chest, which 
terminated his existence. An interesting account is 
given of his death by his friend and physician. Dr. Jones. 
He died on the l7th of April, 1790, aged eighty-four 
years and three months. 

I said 1 might with this conclude, but I cannot do so 
M'ithout adverting to one topic more. 

Franklin's last public act (according to Dr. Stuber's 
account) was the presentation of a Memorial to the House 
of Representatives of the United States, praying them to 
exert the full extent of the powers vested in them by the 
Constitution, to put an end to slavery. 



39 

In this I would join^ heart and hand. In this^ I would 
earnestly invite all w^ho hear me to join. Especially, I 
would say, on this point, to the American gentlemen by 
whom I have the honour to be surrounded : Where, gentle- 
men, where, amongst the numerous admirers of Franklin, 
are his bold and faithful imitators ? I do not say, of his 
genius, the lack of which, unless from wilful negligence, is 
no moral fault in man ; but of his benevolence, his huma- 
nity ; his willingness to sacrifice his own ease, his own 
interest, and even the cheering countenance of some of 
his own friends, if by so doing he might benefit the 
oppressed and degraded tribes of our common species? 
Where are the members of Congress who will nobly shock 
the best feelings of the House of Representatives, and of 
the country and of the world, by exhibiting, in their places, 
the frightful scroll of slave breeding in Virginia, and 
demanding the abolition of the revolting atrocities ? How 
long shall the boast of liberty in the West, be rebuked 
and silenced by pointing to the blood-stained whip and 
iron fetter ? 

We ask this more in son'ow than in anger. We re- 
collect, with shame, how long the Mother country 
persevered in this detestable system ; how long the vested 
rights of some, Avere pleaded against the natural rights of 
others : and we cannot wonder that this example should 
be imitated. 

But let it be the bright and blessed privilege of America, 
speedily to imitate the noble example of England's prac- 
tical repentance of her long-cherished guilt. 

She respected vested rights in her West Indian Colonies. 
Having given them her sanction, she would not deprive them 
of her support. She would not tarnish her justice towards 



40 

one class, by any admixture of injustice towards another. 
But she decreed that those vested rights should no 
longer be maintained at the expense of human liberty and 
human blood. By accumulated millions of her own 
treasury, she purchased the glorious privilege of righteously 
tearing up the charter of the slave-holder, of righteously 
snatching the whip from the hand of the driver, and 
casting it into the fire. 

During her earlier struggles concerning the trade in man, 
I remember Mr. Wilberforce one evening in the House 
of Commons. The morning papers, of the day, contained 
an account of a French vessel, overhauled, and found to 
contain negroes, inhumanly packed between the decks. 
There was no motion before the House ; but the Members 
present, and the Speaker himself, were so entranced by 
the Negroes Friend, that although out of order, he met with 
no interruption. The touching tenderness of his voice and 
manner ; the high chivalry of his sentiments ; the ennobling 
refinement of his Christian principles ; the generous 
devotedness of his life, all conspired to give effect to his 
appalling description of the horrors of the middle passage, 
and his thrilling appeals to our common feelings of 
humanity. Suddenly he stopped : — and after a pause, as 
breathless to his auditory as to himself, he exclaimed, " I 
do not speak to you. Sir ; I do not speak to this House ; I 
do not speak to this country ; I speak, if I may raise a 
blush upon the brow of France." 

And here I ask, can Carolina blush ? Is not Virginia's 
face suffused with shame ? 

Oh ! America, our daughter, sister, friend, in com- 
merce, agriculture, arts, and science, united to us by a 
thousand ties of interest, of affection, of duty ; ties which 



41 

no time can relax, and which we trust no faction or 
treason, no hasty pride or unhappy misunderstanding, will 
ever succeed to tear asunder ! — speed, speed, we implore 
Thee, the glorious consummation, — listen at last to the 
voice of your immortal Franklin, and become our daughter, 
sister, friend, indeed, — in the true, substantial, practical, 
universal freedom of all thy citizens, of every name, of 
every race, of eveiy colour, and of every clime ! Never 
cease, till you can say, with truth and rapture, — Slavery 
is no more ! 

" Oh, most degrading of all ills that wait 

On man, a mourner in his best estate ! 

All other sorrows virtue may endure. 

And find submission more than half a cure. 

But slavery ! virtue dreads it as her grave ; 

Patience itself, is meanness in a slave. 

Or, if the will and sovereigiity of God 

Bid suflPer for a while, and kiss the rod : 

Wait for the dawning of a brighter day. 

And snap the chain, the moment that you may. 

Nature imprints upon whate'er we see. 
That has a heart, and life in it, — be Free." 



The Reverend Gentleman concluded the lecture at twenty minutes to 
ten o'clock, its delivery having occupied two hours. The audience 
immediately and unanimously made the most enthusiastic demon- 
strations of their delight and applause. Indeed, during the delivery of 
this deeply-interesting address, the approbation of the immense audi- 
tory had frequently given rise to similar manifestations ; although, of 
course, checked by the dignity of the occasion, and necessarily subdued, 
or wholly suppressed, by the emphatic solemnity of some portions of 
the Lecture. 

Mr. M'Neile immediately after stepped to the front of the stage, 
and drew their attention to the progress of the art of printing in Boston. 



42 

He exhibited a specimen of what the newspapers of that city were, in 
Franklin's own time ; and also an impression of the Boston Quadruple 
YanJtee Nation, of 16th July, 1841. The immense size of the latter, 
when contrasted with the former, created considerable amusement, as 
the truly "broad" sheet was opened out, fold after fold, by several 
gentlemen. 

Philip Schuyler, Esq., the American consul, arose and said that 
the pleasing duty devolved upon him to propose a vote of thanks to 
the Rev. Mr. M'Neile, for the interesting, instructive, and eloquent 
address which had just been delivered. — Mr. Murray seconded the 
motion, which was carried by acclamation. 

Mr. Murray then moved that Mr. M'Neile be requested to furnish 
the Committee with the MS. of the Lecture, for publication in the form 
of a pamphlet; the profits of which, both in this country and in the 
United States, should be applied to the benefit of the Printers' Pension 
Society of London. 

Mr. Schuyler seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously. 

Tlie Rev. Fielding Ould said he rose to propose a vote of thanks to 
Mr. Murray, for the activity and zeal which he had manifested, in 
making the necessary arrangements for the lecture. He ventured to 
hope that there would not be a second opinion in that great assembly, 
of the justice of that tribute to him, when it was recollected that to 
him they were mainly indebted for the transcendent treat they had 
enjoyed, in listening to the lecture which had been just delivered. 

Mr. Christopher Bushell arose, and said he had been requested to 
second the resolution, and he did so with high gratification, because the 
gentleman they were called upon to thank had been the means of giving 
to them the brilliant production which they had just heard from Mr. 
M'Neile. He felt perfectly persuaded, when he heard that the reverend 
gentleman was about to lecture upon this subject, that he would not 
only make it beneficial to Christian charity, but also to Christian truth. 
— The motion was carried by acclamation. 

Mr. Murray, being called upon, rose, and said that it was his desire, 
and had been his intention, to have kept himself entirely from public 
notice, with reference to this meeting ; and it was only at the request 
of the reverend gentleman whom they had heard, that he consented 
even to his name being mentioned. But he wished to prove to the 
English public, that an American could feel for the poor and the 



43 

wretched, who endured sorrow and privation, in Einjland. He could 
assure his auditory, that his countrymen regarded England with no 
feelings of jealousy or unkindness. He then alluded to the friendly 
relations which ever should subsist between the daughter and the mother 
country; and hoped that the same feeling which had actuated him, 
in his exertions for the poor printers in England, would actuate others, 
similarly placed. It was his duty to add, that on his preliminary inter- 
view with the Rev. Mr. M'Neile, that gentleman had stated the exis- 
tence of serious obstacles to his compliance \vith the request. However, 
(evincing his desire to do so, if practicable,) he inquired what would be 
the icorst consequences, should he decline ; and, on hearing that he would 
thereby probably deprive some poor aged printer, of the comforts which 
the funds arising from the Lecture might provide, he at once, without 
the least further hesitation, determined to undertake a task, which 
promised such a result for his " labour of love." Mr. Murray then 
mentioned the mode in which the Franklin Press had come into his 
possession, and stated that it would, shortly, be sent to the Philosophical 
Society of Philadelphia. Having expressed his obligation to Mr. Crisp, 
Mr. Mitchell, and the other gentlemen, for their assistance upon this 
occasion, he said, if all those who were entitled to it, received their 
share of the approbation which he had received, but little would remain 
for him ; what did remain, however little, he should value highly. 

Before concluding, Mr. Murray mentioned that, as it might gratify 
the audience to learn the probable amount of the receipts, he would 
state that so crowded a house as he saw before him, would result in a 
gross sum of about £250.* This statement, as well as other portions 
of Mr. Murray's address, was received by the audience with the 
warmest and most encouraging marks of their approbation. 

Cheers were then given for the Mayor and Mr. M'Neile, and the 
meeting separated. 



* The probability of the receipts amounting to £250, was announced in consequence of 
information that the theatre, when full, produced that sum. The rate of admission being 
bwer than the usual theatre prices, occasioned a diswcpaiicy, not discovered until afterwards. 



44 



FORM OF THE PAGES. 



TEMPERANCE. 

Eat not to dullness : drink not to elevation. 





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45 



[correspondence.] 

I. 

Mr. J, L. Cox to Mr. J. B. Murray. 

" Winchmore Hill, 10th Sept., 1841. 
*' Dear Sir, 

" In reply to your letter of the 9th Instant, I beg to say 
that the Printing Press to which you refer, was purchased by my father 
(Mr. Edward Cox) with other materials, about seventy years ago, from 
the Printing Office in which Dr. Franklin once worked as a compositor, 
and, as usual at that period, also occasionally at press. I remember an 
old press-man in my father's employ, named Norgrove, who informed 
me that when Dr. Franklin was in this country, arranging the Treaty of 
Peace between England and the United States, he one day came to the 
office, and that he (Norgrove) was then working at the Press. The 
Dr. observed that it was the same Press he had himself once worked at 
when a journeyman ; and having ordered some porter to be sent for, he 
drank some with him, and the other men in the room ; recommending 
them all to be industrious and attentive to business, as he had been, 
and that, like himself, they would benefit by it. 

" I am, dear Sir, 

" Your humble Servant, 

" J. L. COX,'' 
" To John B. Murray, Esq., 
"■(of New York,) 

" Liverpool." 



46 



II. 

Messrs. Harrild and Son, to Mr. J. B. Murray. 

" London, Nov. 16th, 1841. 
" Dear Sir, 

" We should have replied to your favour of 13th instant, 
yesterday ; but were prevented by the absence of our R. H., jun. 

" You have our unreserved consent to do as you please with the 
Franklin Press ; and so satisfied are we of your desire to promote the 
object for which it was intended to be presented, that we beg you, from 
this time, to comslder it as your oion. 



" Yours, most truly, 

" HARRILD & SONS." 
" To John B. Murray, Esq." 
&c. &c. 

In a communication, subsequently received from these gentlemen, 
dated 24th November, 1841, they write as follows : — 

" We need scarcely allude to our first object in presenting the Press, 
through you, to the Americans, with this stipulation, that a donation 
should be given in return, to the Printers' Pension Society of London, 
for the j)urpose of supporting a Pensioner, to be called the ' FranMin 
Pensioner.^ That object you have zealously endeavoured to carry out, 
and although having failed for the present in prevailing on the Philoso- 
phical Society to accept the Press on the terms named, we presume it 
is still your intention that they should possess it without any restric- 
tion. But supposing they may not be disposed to accept it at all, we 
are so satisfied with your exertions in aid of the Franklin project, and 
of that which is likely to result from them, that we repeat our former 
words : — consider the Press your own, with, of course, the liberty of 
doing with it as you think proper. 



" It is our intention at once to fund your remittance, so as to get 
the next dividend ; and to set about exerting ourselves to add to it, 
so as to realize a sufficient sum for the endowment projected." 



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